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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23520694">We'll Stumble Through</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Maiden_of_Wolves/pseuds/Maiden_of_Wolves'>Maiden_of_Wolves</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Dragon Age II, Dragon Age: Origins</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M, Fenris has a traumatic past - molding his 'slavery' into being part of a cult, Fenris is a photographer, M/M, MMO Gaming, Modern AU, Multi, Polyamorous Character, Polyamory, Polyamory Negotiations, Trauma past all around, Zevran has a traumatic past - similar to his past before the Crows, Zevran is an escort, confused feelings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-05-04</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-04-07</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-01 14:14:47</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Not Rated</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,276</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23520694</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Maiden_of_Wolves/pseuds/Maiden_of_Wolves</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>An escort, a web developer and a photographer find themselves entangled in business together despite normally being professional. They're so tangled that before they can even begin separating their strings, they begin to pull at the ones tethered to their hearts.</p><p>Modern AU involving Zevran Arainai, an original female character (Ariel Grace), and Fenris.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Fenris/Original Female Character, Zevran Arainai/Fenris, Zevran Arainai/Fenris/Original Female Character(s), Zevran Arainai/Original Female Character, zevran arainai/Original Female Character(s)/Fenris</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>5</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>We'll Stumble Through</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>This is kind of just a thought experiment that I wanted to get out so I expect it to be fairly short each chapter and shorter than most of my works. Hope you all enjoy as much as I've enjoyed daydreaming about it!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>The only bad thing about working remotely is that you, eventually, begin to miss hanging out casually with other folks. Being a developer had allowed Ariel the freedom she wanted, but at the cost of any attachments. At first, that was great - she had made it a point to be a well-known introvert who often claimed that she could live on a remote island with no other people for a whole month if she just has some kind of portable gaming system and a solar charger. Going into the city was a pain, and frankly she wanted to avoid it as much as possible outside the meetings she was still required to attend at her employer’s office space. So that left online methods.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Forums had ended in weird conversations, either delving too deeply into the political that she made enemies or into the super kinky and it made her uncomfortable. So, here she sat, downloading the latest online fantasy game. She’d delved into the world of MMO’s years ago, but was driven out by creepy gamer bros who freaked out the moment she ever either admitted that she was female irl or had the opportunity to use voice chat. Hopefully, she prayed, this time would be different. It had been a while, after all.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>As was always the case when she played RPGs that offered customization, she spent a good deal of time just deciding what her main character would be race-wise and even more time deciding on physical customization as well as stat attribution and job/class specialization. She eventually settled on a dragon-like race with horns and claws that was smaller than most folks but high in speed and dexterity so her pick of Archer class could be fully utilized. She figured that even if she couldn’t find steady players to work with, she would at least have a decent chance of being able to get a fair way on her own or hopping into random groups with that setup.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Hackles” was already claimed, as she went to name her character. Despite her previous issues with being treated weirdly for being female, she gave up after a couple iterations and just went with her standard handle: “Skulk_Born”. It sounded kinda metal and referenced foxes, which were her favorite animal.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The initial loading in took forever, but even though there was a ton of people in the starting area everyone seemed to either mind their own business or were willing to answer questions from her n00b ass.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>While waiting in the area she was told was for people to group up for adventuring parties, she was approached by a player that was clearly playing as some kind of tank with a giant 2-handed sword laying across the character’s back.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <b>Wolfenstien</b>
  <span>: I’m bored - want a powerlvl partner? Can prob get u to 10 in hr</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <b>Skulk_Born</b>
  <span>: Powerlevel partner?</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <b>Wolfenstien</b>
  <span>: ^ lvl char helps v lvl char by taking them to mid-lvl dunge</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <b>Skulk_Born</b>
  <span>: Oh! Sure! Thanks! &lt;3</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The player made his character emote a laugh.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <b>Wolfenstien</b>
  <span>: So ur that kinda gmr…</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <b>Skul_Born</b>
  <span>: What does that mean? Am I not supposed to be nice to people that help me out???</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>They made their character hold up their hands and shake their head. Ariel wasn’t sure what to make of it.</span>
</p><p>
  <b>Wolfenstien</b>
  <span>: No. Thats cool.</span>
</p><p>
  <b>Wolfenstien</b>
  <span>: Talkin bout full grammar and shit</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It was Ariel’s turn to laugh, though she did so in real life because she didn’t yet know how to have her character emote in the game. Her fingers flew across the keyboard even faster than they did when she was wriggling lines of code into place.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <b>Skulk_Born</b>
  <span>: I know shortenings, just don’t use them much. I use macros enough in my job. Might as well use the words/spelling/grammar that school taught me at some point…</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Wolfenstien the character simply laughed again, pausing for only a moment before heading off.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>You have been invited to a party. Accept?</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Of course,” Ariel breathed in real life as she hit the ‘enter’ key. This person seemed super cool. Willing to ‘powerlevel’ a n00b just because they were bored? Turning to kindness because one’s bored was certainly an admirable instinct.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Their evening consisted of watching Wolf tear through enemies and Ariel simply doing her best to learn the ropes of her own abilities in between snips of get-to-know-you banter.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She found out very little about him personally, but she didn’t have any difficulty trusting what she did get. He was a guy, went through ‘some bullshit’ in his life and didn’t want to talk about it and is hopping between jobs. He found her ability to code impressive, saying he tried it and he just couldn’t keep things straight. She admitted it was difficult for the best some days - ‘it can be like wrangling a wild animal; gotta watch out for unexpected shit’, as she put it. That had earned her another emoted laugh. Ariel was just glad for the lack of voice chat and that Wolf didn’t seem interested in harassing or belittling her even though he certainly could have gotten away with it considering his generous support.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Wolf hadn’t been lying when they said that they could get her to level 10 in a flash. Ariel started a teleport back to the plaza where they had first met, expecting that he would want to part ways. It disappointed her, to think that she’d have to say goodbye already, but she didn’t want to push him to stick around. He’d done what he said he would do and that was all she could ask of a virtual stranger - no matter how much of a good samaritan he was.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <b>Wolfenstien</b>
  <span>: Need to log?</span>
</p><p>
  <b>Wolfenstien</b>
  <span>: Late where you are?</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <b>Skulk_Born</b>
  <span>: Not right this second… it’s late evening, but I could stay up a couple more hours.</span>
</p><p>
  <b>Skulk_Born</b>
  <span>: I thought you’d want to get on with something closer to your level now that I’m at 10.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <b>Wolfenstien</b>
  <span>: Normal pty isn’t here</span>
</p><p>
  <b>Wolfenstien</b>
  <span>: Can keep going</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Ariel cancelled the teleport request, running through the emote menu to make her character clap in celebration.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <b>Skulk_Born</b>
  <span>: Well, who am I to say no to higher level loot, great XP and a fantastic partner?</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <b>Wolfenstien</b>
  <span>: aigor na</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <b>Skulk_Born</b>
  <span>: Did you pet attack your keyboard?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ariel blushed a little in real life as she stared at the character that was her good samaritan. Had she said something wrong? ...she had to try and make fun of it. To hide.</span>
</p><p>
  <b>Skulk_Born</b>
  <span>: Or was that… a keysmash of delight?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She made her character laugh to reinforce her comment. She was glad that they’d been in party-only chat this whole time.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <b>Wolfenstein</b>
  <span>: Yea. Cat. Srry.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>For some reason, Ariel doubted that, but she didn’t say so.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It only took a couple weeks for her to realize she’d met her best friend that night. Well, the several fun events that ranged from wrangling bison-like creatures for an adorable event-exclusive pet that she insisted they do together despite Wolf's protests to virtual fireworks displays certainly helped. And the continued banter. And the complimentary roles of their selected jobs - with the odd complaint here and there between them that neither of them had gotten any kind of class that allowed for real healing spells. Even when they fought in a raid with a full party, they had personal chats going alongside - from gossiping about the other party members to talking “deep philosophical shit” as Wolf called it as he attempted to pretend he didn’t enjoy the arguments or playing devil’s advocate to Ariel’s grand societal theories.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She certainly felt like the game and its subscription fee was worth every single cent.</span>
</p>
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